This Date Rape Campaign Actually Targets Date Rapists

There have been too many shitty date rape prevention campaigns to name. The main reason they’re all shitty is that they target women, typically cautioning them to avoid drinking (sometimes altogether). The general message is, “Don’t get drunk. Someone will rape you.” Others wonder, “You blacked out. Maybe you got raped?” In any event, it’s kind of shocking that so few campaigns target… the people doing the actual raping?

That’s why this new set of images from a campaign in Edmonton, Alberta is refreshing (if it weren’t already tragic and awful that we need things like campaigns against date rape), in that it frankly targets men and presents various previously ambiguous* situations in no uncertain terms.

These new posters are a continuation of a campaign launched two years ago by the Edmonton police department. The department reports that alcohol was involved in over half of their sexual assault investigations in 2011.

And then adds, terrifyingly:

Even more disturbing was a recent UK study involving 18-25 year old males that revealed that 48 percent of men didn’t consider it rape if a woman is too drunk to know what was going on.

We have to agree that there is one glaring problem with the campaign: the “Don’t Be That Guy” slogan, which is pretty dreadful in its casual approach to not raping people. Don’t Be That Guy makes sense as the slogan of a campaign against leaving dirty dishes for your roommates to clean up. Or campaigns against people who don’t pick up after their dogs.